Men's Swimming & Diving

Mariners Extend Lead in Day 2 of Landmark Conference Championships

Scranton, PA – Records continued to fall Saturday evening as the USMMA men's swimming team dominated another day at the 2013 Landmark Conference Championships. The Mariners racked up five victories in the six individual event finals of Saturday's competition. However, USMMA saved the best for last by smashing Academy, conference, and pool records while making a NCAA "B" cut in the 800 free relay. Chris Scott (Andover, KS) set a new meet record and hit a NCAA "B" cut of his own in the 400 IM. Kevin Lindgren (Palm City, FL) topped the field in both the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke as the sophomore continues his supremacy of the Landmark Conference.

The Mariners owned the 200 freestyle as Alvaro Brice (The Woodlands, TX) also broke a meet record and USMMA claimed the top-three spots on the podium. Brice touched in 1:42.88 while Blake Krell (Fort Myers, FL) and Joshua McCormick (Granite Bay, CA) were both less than one second behind for second and third, respectively. Josh Sindorf (Lancaster, PA) took 11th to give Merchant Marine 25 percent of the event's scoring positions.

Scott, a senior, earned his victory with Jordan Cripe (Monterey, CA) finishing just off the pace in second as the Mariners went one-two in the 400 IM. Scott posted a time of 4:07.54 while Cripe hit the wall in 4:12.46. Freshman Case Kuikhoven (Ketchikan, AK) had a strong outing and touched in 4:22.38 for fourth-place. Alex Rodgers (Lake Hopatcong, NJ) also reached the 'A' final and came in eighth while Ben Gabbard (Vacaville, CA) scored six points with an 11th place finish.

Lindgren made it two straight wins for USMMA with a time of 50.96 in the 100 fly. Classmate Hunter Rowan (Matthews, NC) clocked in at 52.65 for a third-place performance. William Kelsik (New Castle, IN) topped the 'B' final and his time of 53.24 earned him ninth-place and nine points for the team. Bryce Kramer (Boerne, TX) and Sean Minor (Fort Myers, FL) also reached the final 16 to bolster the Mariners' team total.

Lindgren's second win saw him again hit the NCAA 'B' cut in the 100 back with a time of 50.08 seconds. Freshman Blair Roberts (South Jordan, UT) earned fourth in the event while Rowan found the podium again with a seventh-place swim. Andrew Terselic (Tijera, NM) topped the 'B' final with a time of 55.36 seconds for ninth.

Freshman William Porter (Houston, TX) set a pool record in the 3-meter diving competition as the rookie swept the diving events in his first Landmark Conference Championships. He racked up 446.15 points for the victory while Sean Higgins (Anacortes, WA) came in third-place for Merchant Marine.

The final event saw the team of Lindgren, Brice, Krell, and McCormick eclipse the standing Academy and conference record by more than two seconds and leave the rest of the field over 22 seconds behind. The team's time of 6:51.16 provided a more than fitting day to Merchant Marine's assault on the leaderboard.

The Mariners hold a 217 point advantage over second-place Susquehanna entering the final day of competition tomorrow. USMMA is looking to maintain its billing as the only champion in the history of Landmark Conference men's swimming.